Transformers on Top

The big-screen version of Transformers bowed in theaters Monday night and, by Wednesday evening, the Michael Bay-directed epic has grossed a record $36.3 million. That's $36 million in about 36 hours.

Transformers grossed an estimated $8.8 million Monday night alone, and then earned roughly $27.4 million Tuesday. This is a single-day record for the highest-grossing Tuesday, nearly doubling last year's then-record take by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, according to The Associated Press and BoxOfficeMojo.com.

"It's playing very broadly. It's the kind of summer movie that's drawing families and we're very excited for its progress going into the rest of the weekend," Paramount spokesperson Mike Vollman told the AP.

DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com reports that Transformers, which pulled in another $29.1 mil on Wednesday, "recorded the best gross ever for a Fourth Of July. It also recorded the biggest Wednesday non-sequel of all time, beating The Passion Of The Christ ($26.5M on Wednesday February 25, 2004). So now its cume is $65.7 for the first 2 1/2 days of release since Monday night."

Transformers is poised to cross the $100 million mark in a week or less, and is also expected to join this summer's Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Shrek the Third in the elite $300 million club.

Last weekend's top two new releases -- Ratatouille and Live Free or Die Hard -- slipped to second and third place, respectively, at the North American box office.